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Police strike in Bolivia

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"We are no longer facing a labor or salary issue, but something with a political conspiratorial character in the initial phase of coup preparations," Vice President Alvaro Garcia Linares said.

He accused the forces behind the police mutiny of wanting to push the country into a situation of violence, "but they won't have it; we won't allow it."

The vice president said that during the six years of President Evo Morales' leadership, police salaries have increased 42%.

"How are we going to carry out a coup if we have no such intentions," one of the police officers told CNN en Español. "We are simply asking for a fair salary, which is necessary."

At the start of the most recent talks, Interior Minister Carlos Romero said, "In any case, we have the hope to solve this conflict within the institutional framework and through a path of consensus and dialogue."

Meanwhile, as police are occupied with their own protests, a group of indigenous people who have been marching for two months to protest a planned highway through a national park will arrive in the capital, La Paz.

Members of Bolivia's armed forces have taken over many of the tasks performed by police.